


Hide the Whips

by stellarparallax



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Competitive Debate, Awkward Flirting, Bad Jokes, Bad Puns, First Dates, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2018-11-30 01:59:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11453613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarparallax/pseuds/stellarparallax
Summary: AU where instead of figure skating, the characters of YoI do competitive debating OR an experiment of how many puns and innuendos I can get away with before my fandom privileges get revoked.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Beta Readers: @inkuisitivskins and @themindoflaeela  
> Thank you for reading, checking, supporting and letting me scream at you <3
> 
> Unfortunately, I will not be continuing this fic. [Here's my blog post explaining why, if you were interested. ](https://stellar-parallax.tumblr.com/post/177971427790/idk-if-anyone-whos-following-me-now-read-any-of)

Whipping came like second nature to Viktor.

Many people were great at working with their hands but he was fantastic with his words. He had been thoroughly trained to summarise, rebut and analyse arguments during debates, and boy did he hone in on those skills. He was known throughout the international competitive debate circuit as having speeches as close to flawless as anyone was ever going to get. His arguments were well substantiated and he had a way of speaking about complex issues in a way that laymen could understand, while retaining the nuance that was needed to take his rebuttals to the next level.

Viktor had been known to pull out win after win regardless of who his teammates were. The circuit knew him as the _Viktor Nikiforov, the Whipping Boy_ , but the members of his university's debate club knew him as the man who could turn an amateur into a professional. He wasn't just good at writing and delivering his own speeches, he was also an amazing mentor and team member. He was always ready with contextual material to prepare his ignorant team mates, and he was equipped with the confidence to inspire his insecure ones. It didn't matter how inexperienced they were, Viktor would always be able to whip them into shape within the limited preparation time they had before each debate.

Which is why it came as a huge shock when the Chair Adjudicator, Lee Seung-gil, announced that his team had lost the debate during the finals of the World University Debating Championship Detroit 2017. Not even one of his panelists, Sara Crispino and Emil Nekola, or his trainees, Guang Hong Ji and Leo de la Iglesia, disputed his decision. Viktor was upset, and justifiably so. It was a stain on his twenty-nine unbeaten streak. He was hoping to retire from competitive debating and move on to the coaching division of his university's debate club, but alas, his abilities had not been enough to claim that victory. The arguments that he had given and the arguments that the whip from the opposition team had given kept ringing in his mind as he watched the contents of his worst nightmare unfold before his eyes.

He looked across the stage floor at the shy-looking bespectacled opposition whip who had him completely stunned that someone with so little experience and recognition could make music with the words that he spoke. Every summary point sounded objective on the surface, but Viktor had listened to enough whip speeches to know that this man had the ability to subtly recharacterise the arguments from the other side and plant a seed of doubt in the adjudicator's mind. It also didn't hurt that he spoke with so much candor and earnest that it would be almost inhumane to accuse him of being anything less than completely fair in his assessments of the arguments presented by the previous five speakers.

Viktor had never heard of him before, but he was sure to remember his name now -- Katsuki Yuuri.

 

* * *

 

"Hey, slow down, okay?" Yuri said as he tried to take the champagne flute away from Viktor.

"Can't... Won't...," Viktor slurred in return, lifting his arm with the glass higher so that Yuri, who was shorter than him by at least a head, wouldn't be able to reach it.

"Viktor, it's going to be okay. You've won twenty-nine debates in competitions national and international. What's one loss going to hurt?" Georgi tried to reason.

"Haaa, that's easy for you to say. You're not the one who almost had a thirty-time winning streak. You're only allowed to say that to me when you've won as many debates as I have. I'm waiting," sober Viktor would have never belittled a fellow team mate, but it wasn't sober Viktor who was talking. Georgi was aware of that and only sighed in response.

Viktor stumbled around the banquet hall, spilling the cup of water that Yuri had insisted he drink from between glasses of champagne on unsuspecting after-party attendees. In his drunken stupor, he crashed right into Mila's arms, clinging onto her for support. Mila was the adjudicator that came along with his team. He knew Mila. He could trust Mila.

"Miiiiiiiiii-la," he cooed at her, "Do you happen to know where Katsuki Yuuri is?"

"Katsuki Yuuri?" she reconfirmed, "The whip speaker of the winning team?"

"Yessss, the cute one," he giggled, then hiccuped.

"He didn't come to the after-party. I don't know where he is."

"Haaa, okay, I'll just go back to my room then," he unhooked himself from Mila and walked unsteadily towards the elevator lobby.

Mila watched him leave for a few minutes before shooting a confused look at Yuri and Georgi. They shrugged back at her in unison.

 

* * *

 

"Oh, _come on_ , my Vampire would DEFINITELY win in a war in a High School. All he has to do is wink and he'd have hordes of suitors doing his bidding," Phichit glared at Minami.

"That may be true, but consider this: my Mad Scientist could blow up the entire school and take your Vampire down with it."

"That would only kill my Vampire's suitors! Are you forgetting that Vampires are immortal?"

"Says who?"

"SAYS ME."

Yuuri's arms formed an 'X'. He wanted to tell them that they had to stop arguing if they wanted him to make a decision on which one of them won the round, but he kept getting interrupted. He didn't like raising his voice so his words got caught in his throat.

Despite of how uncomfortable he felt watching people fight, even if only in jest, he wouldn't have traded this for attending the competition after-party. After-parties meant large crowds, small talk and a possibility of consuming copious volumes of alcohol in an attempt at getting away from other people. Neither of these particularly appealed to Yuuri. Phichit and Minami had been excited to go, but when Yuuri said that he was sitting it out, they decided to stay with him so that he wouldn't feel alone.

Suddenly, there was heaving rapping on their hotel room door that snapped all three of them out of the game. Phichit raised an eyebrow as his head slowly turned to face the door.

"Well, obviously the loser has to go get that. Yuuri, please tell Minami to do that right away."

"What makes you think you won?"

"MY VAMPIRE IS IMMORTAL."

"ENOUGH."

Phichit and Minami froze. Yuuri sighed as he got up to answer the door. It was probably someone who got the wrong room, he thought.

He was right, except it wasn't just anyone. It was The Viktor Nikiforov -- The Viktor Nikiforov who was known internationally as The Whipping Boy; The Viktor Nikiforov who had inspired Yuuri to join his university's debate club even though he thought he was terrible at public speaking; The Viktor Nikiforov who was doing his PhD programme in Abnormal Psychology, but still found time for competitive debating and somehow still excelled in academia; the same Viktor Nikiforov whose twenty-nine winning streak he had broken earlier that evening.

"Fancy seeing you here!" he said excitedly as he bounced right into Yuuri's arms, "Did you wait long for me, darling?"

"Darling?" Yuuri eyes were wide as he turned to Phichit who was biting his trembling lower lip trying to stifle a laughter.

Viktor brought his mouth close to Yuuri's ear and whispered huskily, "You look good enough to eat."

Yuuri was positive that his cause of death would be a fatal fever caused by excessive blushing. He always knew that he would be the type to die young.

"Ah, Mr Nikiforov, I think you've had too much to drink," his voice cracked, "Why don't you lie down while I go look for your roommates?"

Viktor's grip on him only tightened upon hearing that, "No, you stay with me."

"Phi-PHICHIT!" Yuuri shrieked.

"Coming, _darling_ ," he teased.

Phichit quickly walked towards them and helped to drag Viktor's now-limp body towards their beds. As they tried to push him onto the single bed, Viktor pushed them off then threw himself spread eagle onto the queen-sized bed. Phichit finally released a wave of hysterical laughter that he had been trying so hard to hold back. Yuuri let out an exasperated gasp as he backed into a wall and slumped himself against it.

"Uhm," Minami finally spoke since Viktor entered their hotel room, "I'll go... I'll go look for his team mates."

Minami let the door slam behind him louder than was necessary. Sometimes, Phichit and Yuuri forgot how young Minami was. They were all in university, but Minami was a freshman, while Phichit and Yuuri were in their final year of their bachelor’s degree programme. His skills and talent definitely made up for his inexperience when it came to debating, but neither made any mark on his maturity. The whole situation must have embarrassed him so much that it activated his "fight-or-flight" response. It was understandable, really. Without even discussing it, they both knew that they shouldn't tease him for it later.

On the other hand, Phichit had no qualms about teasing Yuuri.

"So, Yuuri, how does it feel to finally be dating your idol?"

"Phichit, he may still be awake!"

"Yes, but he probably won't remember this anyway. Look at him, he's so drunk that he puts your drinking escapades to shame."

"Ah... Phichit!"

Phichit reached out for the box of tissues and started dabbing away the tears from his eyes.

 

* * *

 

The smell of hot coffee stung Viktor’s nose and he groaned as his body moved from its awkward position on the queen-sized bed. He wasn’t even sure how his body managed to contort itself in such a way and simultaneously manage to not cut off the circulation to his limbs. He slowly pulled himself into a sitting position and rubbed his eyes, knowing that he’d probably regret it later since he’d been told over and over again that such action would increase the probability of injury to his brilliant baby blues. His coach, Yakov, had nagged at him over and over to no avail. It was a habit that he had long before knowing Yakov and a few reminders wasn’t going to magically stop it.

“You’re up,” he heard a voice that he eventually attached to the man standing in front of him. He was holding a cup of coffee in front of him, offering it to Viktor, “I hope you’re okay with instant. That’s all I have.”

Viktor absently took the cup as he let his eyes meet the man’s torso. He was wearing a shirt that said “Debate Team”. Viktor’s head snapped up and looked up at his face and felt his own face turn red as he realised that he was looking straight at Yuuri Katsuki.

“Ah… It’s you,” he stuttered, “What are we… Did we…?”

Viktor put the cup of coffee down on the night stand and started gesticulating frantically, only a series of gasps getting past his lips.

“Viktor, breathe. Nothing happened,” Yuuri grabbed him by the hands and pushed his hands down to his side, “You just got drunk and ended up in our room, then fell asleep. I promise, nothing else happened.”

Viktor looked over at the adjacent single bed that was shabbily made and released the breath he didn’t realise he was holding, allowing the tension in his shoulders dissipate. He picked up the cup and took a sip from it. It was hot but it was drinkable. It was how he liked his coffee.

“Wait, our?”

“Yeah, my team’s room. But it’s just me now. You can relax.”

Viktor looked down at the contents of the cup that were down to its last drops. He didn’t know how drunk he got last night but he was sure that Yuri had insisted on him drinking water, which made the headache he was having then a pinprick compared to his regular hangovers. However, it still hurt and he made a mental note to go to a convenience store to get painkillers when he felt well enough to leave the hotel.

As if he read his mind, Yuuri took the cup away from him and replaced it with a glass of water, along with a blister pack full of unfamiliar-looking tablets. He flipped over the packaging and saw the name of the drug in katakana, indecipherable to him.

Even though he knew that they could be any deadly or illegal substance, he quickly asked, “So, how many of these do I take?’

“Two, just like the kind of painkillers you can get from the drug store here. It’s Japanese because my parents pack so much of these in my bags whenever I come back here from Japan that I’m surprised I haven’t been searched and questioned at airports before.”

Viktor pierced two of the blisters and pulled out two of the tablets. He put them in his mouth and chased them down with water. He placed the glass down and looked at Yuuri.

“So, uhm, thanks. And congratulations on winning last night,” his voice was shaking.

“You’re welcome and tha-... Are you okay?”

Viktor was hunched over and his upper body was shaking. Hot tears were leaving wet spots on the bed sheets. He leaned back against the headboard and gave a wry laugh.

“I don’t know why I’m crying. This is all so very stupid,” he said between wiping his tears off on his hands.

Yuuri gently tipped Viktor’s chin up with his left hand and brushed his fringe out of his face with his right, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m embarrassed, okay?” Viktor shouted, pushing both of Yuuri’s hands away, “I’m a failure and I ended up drunk in the hotel room of my competition! I’ve never been more ashamed of myself in my entire life.”

Not taking his eyes off him, Yuuri sat down on the bed across from him. He stared at him for a while longer before stretching out his arms in front of him. Viktor’s eyes widened. Then he came crashing down into him the way the ocean falls into the embrace of the shore, trembling and full of longing. As Yuuri rubbed his back, Viktor knew in that moment that he wanted to stay clinging onto him for dear life, even if the sea tried to drag him back screaming.

“Do you want to go down for breakfast?” Yuuri offered gently.

“I don’t think my self-esteem can handle any more damage, Yuuri,” Viktor’s face was buried in Yuuri’s chest but the way he said Yuuri’s name gave him the impression that he was pouting, “If possible, I don’t want to go out in public for the rest of my life.”

His stomach betrayed him. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to will the rumbling sounds away.

“You… want to answer that?” Yuuri laughed, “We don’t have to eat here, we could go elsewhere. I know the area. I mean, only if you want to.”

Viktor let go of Yuuri and looked down at himself. If there was any indication that the clothes he was wearing had been pressed at some point, it definitely wasn’t obvious. He was suddenly acutely aware of how disheveled he look. His swollen eyes and red face probably only compounded the sad state he was in, “Well, I’m not going looking like this.”

“I could call my roommates to bring your things back here. They’re staying in your team’s suite and they’ll have to come back to get the rest of their things before check out anyway. Or, you could borrow my clothes.”

Viktor really didn’t want to talk to anyone else.

“Uhm… Are all your clothes as tight as that?” he said, pointing at Yuuri’s chest, “Because if so, I don’t think I’ll be able to fit into anything.”

 

* * *

 

_The mechanical whir and click took Phichit and Yuuri’s attention away from Viktor. They turned around and was greeted by the sight of Minami slowly opening the door to reveal Yuri and Georgi standing behind him. Without any hesitation, Yuri took large strides and swiftly kicked the bed that Viktor was on._

_“Get up, old man, we’re going back to our room.”_

_“Yuuuuuuri,” Viktor whined, “Yurio wants to tear us apart!”_

_“Oi, who are you calling Yurio?”_

_“Hehe… hic...,” Viktor jumped up and clung onto Yuuri who was standing by the bed he was on, “This is Yuuri, Yurio, say hi!”_

_“Stop calling me that! Ugh, you’re such a pain,” Yuri groaned as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Okay, you know what? Just leave the old man here. The rest of you are coming over to our suite. Clearly you can’t all squeeze into the single bed and I’m not letting this idiot make you sleep on the floor. Get your stuff, let’s go.”_

_Before anyone could say anything in response, Yuri was already halfway out of the door. Georgi held the door open expectantly, “I’ll wait for you at the lift landing on the tenth floor.”_

_Then, he walked out of the room and closed the door. Phichit and Minami walked over to the wardrobe and started choosing clothing to bring over to the other room, while Yuuri was still struggling to untangle Viktor from himself._

_“Yuuuuuuuuri, don’t leave me!”_

_“Phichit, help,” Yuuri cried out._

_“Nawh fam, you get yourself into this mess, you get yourself out of it,” Phichit was giggling, much to Yuuri’s chagrin._

_“Get MYSELF into this mess? Phichit, I did no such thing!”_

_“I know!” Phichit laughed as he picked up his bag and made his way to the door, “See you tomorrow, Yuuri! But not too early!”_

_“PHICHIT!” Yuuri yelled as the door swung shut, leaving him alone with Viktor._

_“Good, they’re gone,” Viktor slurred, “Now, would the beautiful opposition whip be opposed to some-”_

“STOP. JUST STOP. I don’t want to hear the end of that sentence,” Viktor was covering his face with his hands, his shoulders slumped so low that his knuckles were almost touching the precarious stack of mostly-eaten pancakes in front of him, “Please tell me that you’re just making this up, Yuuri, I’m begging you.”

“Well, I thought it was cute so…”

Viktor waited for Yuuri to follow that with teasing, but he didn’t. He peeled his hands away from his face and looked up to see Yuuri’s face tinged scarlet with his eyes looking out the window of the cafe they were in. The almost-noon sunlight was streaming in, emphasising the soft angles of Yuuri’s cheekbones. Viktor could barely contain the soft gasp he made as he took in the sight before him.

“You’re beautiful,” he blurted out before slapping his hand over his mouth.

“What?” Yuuri squeaked.

“I SAID YOU HAVE MAPLE SYRUP ON YOUR FACE,” Viktor yelled before getting out of his seat and running towards the bathroom.

He slammed the cubicle door shut and slumped against its side. He took a few deep breaths while chanting, “It’s okay, he doesn’t think you’re that weird.” Finally, he found the courage to walk out to face the man who he now realised he had an insurmountable crush on. Slowly, he turned the latch of the cubicle door.

“You lied,” Yuuri said flatly, causing Viktor to jump up and shriek.

“D-d-d-don’t do that!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” at first it sounded like teasing, but Viktor soon realised that Yuuri was being completely sincere, “This whole situation must be so uncomfortable for you. I’m sorry for startling you like that.”

“I… No… I just… I swear, I’m not usually like this!”

“Are you still hungry? If you aren’t, we could leave and go do something else.”

“Okay…,” Viktor mumbled.

“Okay?”

“No, I mean, yes. I mean, no, I’m not hungry. Yes, let’s go”

“Alright then, let’s go decorate some cakes.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Let’s go.”

Viktor tried not to panic when Yuuri took him by the hand and led him out of the diner to his motorbike that was conveniently parked near the entrance.

 

* * *

  

Viktor made it his mission to sweep Yuuri off his feet. He wasn’t sure how he would do it, or really, why he would even do it, but he was determined to do it and do it well. When they arrived at the cake decorating shop, he had a plan loosely fleshed out in his head that he fully intended to put into action. They entered the shop and went straight to a table close to the back of the shop, but close enough to the centre. Soon, a waitress came over to take their order.

“So, what flavour would you like the cakes to be? Your choices are vanilla, chocolate, strawb-”

“Anything but vanilla,” Viktor said, shooting a smoldering glance at Yuuri.

Yuuri snorted, “Calm down, Casanova. I’ll have the chocolate.”

“Strawberry,” Viktor mumbled sourly.

The waitress quickly took it down on her notepad then walked back to the kitchen. Soon, she emerged with two miniature layer cakes that had already been covered in plain white icing. She placed the one with the pink stand in front of Viktor and the one with the black stand in front of Yuuri.

“She’ll be back with the coloured icing and sprinkles. If you want, you can ask for fondant. They don’t normally include it in the basic package but you can ask for it, no charge. They just don’t like giving it out to customers who only end up playing with it then throwing it away.”

Viktor found it almost impossible to take his eyes off Yuuri’s lips. Watching them touch and part to form words was ambrosial and he couldn’t help but gasp at how full and supple they were. He wasn’t sure how he managed to focus on much else during the debate the night before when his opponent looked this enticing.

Soon, the waitress returned with a plastic piping bag holder with five bags of coloured icing -- white, blue, yellow, pink, purple -- and one bag of chocolate sauce. As soon as the tray touched the table, Yuuri snatched the blue and brown bags.

“Mine,” Yuuri’s eyes were wide and his lips were pursed. He was daring Viktor to protest.

Viktor stared at him with his mouth gaping, unable to come up with a suitable reaction to what Yuuri just did. Then, he threw his head back and burst into a fit of laughter as he slapped his own thigh.

“Did you seriously…,” his words kept getting interrupted by streams of laughter, “... Just… Do… That?”

He looked back at Yuuri, hoping to see Yuuri laughing along. Instead, he saw him blushing, face turned away from him. That only made him laugh harder. For the first time that day, Viktor wasn’t the one ridden with embarrassment and he was soaking up every second of it.

“It’s… It’s not that funny, Viktor! I like chocolate… And blue is my favourite colour… Stop laughing, it’s not funny!”

That got him to stop laughing, but he couldn’t help but tease him further, “If you say so, sweetheart. So, how does this work?”

Yuuri pulled out a plastic drawer at the bottom of the icing holder. In it, there was a small pair of scissors and a few toothpicks. He picked up one of the toothpicks and wordlessly demonstrated how to poke the tip of the piping bag with it to release the icing.

“They couldn’t get a larger pair of scissors?” Viktor asked.

“This place is actually meant for children. There was a shop like this back in Japan and I used to beg my sister to take me all the time.”

“You took me to a place that reminded you of your childhood?”

“Well,” Yuuri shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “Yeah.”

That was it. That was all it took. If Viktor was blushing, he couldn’t feel the heat from his face because he was so overwhelmed with endearment that he felt like his heart had been set on fire.  

“So… Uh… How do you… Do the… Uh… Thing…?”

“Decorate the cake?” Yuuri’s eyes lit up, “That’s the best part -- there are no rules. You can do it however you want! Here, watch!”

Yuuri’s eyes darted around the table as he bit his lip, assessing the tools he had at his disposal. Finally, his eyes landed on the two bags of icing that he had claimed for himself. He pierced the tip of the piping bag filled with chocolate and started drawing a speech bubble on the top of his cake. In the bubble, he wrote, “There are no rules.” He put the piping bag down and picked up the one filled with blue icing. He picked up the scissors and cut off the tip of the plastic bag. Slowly, he piped blobs around the top edge of the cake. Then, he opened a drawer in the piping bag holder that Viktor hadn’t even noticed before and started scooping out rainbow sprinkles and pouring it down the side of his cake.

“And… I’m done!” he gently nudged the cake towards Viktor, a wide goofy smile plastered on his face.

Viktor felt like he just got stabbed in the gut. He didn’t think it was humanly possible for someone to be that adorable. He placed a hand on his chest, steadying himself. It took him a while to regain his composure after that, but he was determined to get Yuuri to fall for him so he managed out of sheer willpower.

“If you’re done, can I…,” he reached out for the chocolate and blue icing.

Yuuri gently pushed his hand away.

“No. Mine.”

“Oh come on, I want to make a speech bubble too!”

“Do it in pink, white, yellow or purple.”

“... Fine,” Viktor sighed.

He picked up the bag of pink icing and snipped off the tip. He looked down at his bare cake and considered what to draw on it.

Then he had a better idea.

He looked up at Yuuri, and for a split second his grin and darkened eyes almost gave his plan away. Before Yuuri could react, he reached out and squeezed out a swirl of pink onto Yuuri’s nose.

“Hmm, I think I’m done,” he laughed.

“V-v-viktor!” Yuuri cried out exasperatedly as he snatched a napkin from the napkin tray so fast that he knocked it over, leaving a haphazard pile of napkins on the table.

“No, don’t!” Viktor protested as Yuuri wiped the icing off his nose, “Yuuri, you wound me! That was my masterpiece!”

Yuuri dropped the napkin he was using gracefully onto the table and picked up the bag of blue icing, “Don’t make me do something you’ll regret, Viktor.”

Viktor, who was still holding onto his bag of pink icing, lifted it up to Yuuri’s face and left a trail of sugar down his cheek that started from below his eye to his chin, “Cry me a river.”

Yuuri grabbed onto Viktor’s giggling face and started writing 愛(ai) on his cheek. Realising what he had written, his face turned deep red and he quickly picked up a napkin to wipe it off.

“Aww, what did you write?”

“Nothing… It was something mean,” he picked up another napkin and started wiping his own face.

When he pulled the napkin away from his face, he realised that Viktor was leaning in dangerously close. The hem of his shirt -- Yuuri’s shirt -- was close to damaging one of blue blobs on Yuuri’s cake.

“Yuuri,” Viktor breathed, “You missed a spot.”

Yuuri could feel Viktor’s warm breaths against his cheek.

Suddenly, a familiar sound erupted from Viktor’s pants. His phone was ringing.

“Oh, I didn’t check if my phone was still alive just now,” he pulled it out and saw that it had a full charge, “Did you charge my phone for me? That’s sweet of you!”

He sat back down on his seat and took the call.

“... OLD MAN WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? OUR FLIGHT IS IN THREE HOURS,” Yuuri recognised Yuri’s voice even as a loud static-ridden stream of sounds.

“Yuri, I’m not flying back to Russia today. I’m pretty sure I told you.”

“I KNOW THAT. WE CAN’T JUST LEAVE YOUR BAGS IN THE LOBBY CAN WE?”

Viktor heard a faint “We can take care of them, it’s no big deal.” from Yuri’s end, followed by a “That old man isn’t going to give you any more trouble after last night.” from Yuri, said surprisingly politely.

“Yuuri,” Viktor said glumly, “Would you mind taking me back to the hotel?”

“Of course not,” Yuuri waved over the waitress to ask for their cakes to be packed, “Why aren’t you flying back with them?”

“I didn’t manage to get a flight. I’m staying at the hotel for one more night.”

The same waitress from before came and took away their cake stands after having to decipher Yuuri’s cryptic hand gestures from afar.

“Make your payment at the counter, please,” she said curtly.

“Let’s go,” Yuuri said softly as he stood up, walked over to Viktor’s seat, then took him by the wrist.

 

* * *

 

As soon as they arrived at the hotel, Viktor ran into the building, almost crashing into the glass door in the process. Like a dowsing rod, his body twitched the minute he located Yuri. He ran towards him and wrapped his arms around him.

“Be safe, Yuri! I’ll see you back in Russia in two days!” he bent down to plant a peck on his cheek but Yuri slapped his face away.

“See you, old man. Take care of yourself,” he mumbled before storming off with Georgi following behind him.

“Viktor? Your bags are here,” Viktor turned around and saw that the voice was coming from Phichit.

“Of course, thank you. I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you.”

“It was no trouble at all,” Phichit waved in dismissal of Viktor’s statement, “We weren’t about to leave Yuuri’s stuff here! Oh, here he is! Hi, Yuuri!”

Yuuri allowed himself to be squeezed into a tight hug by Phichit. He laughed nervously as his eyes darted from Viktor to Minami.

“Phi-Phichit, I think I’m staying here for another night.”

“What?”

Yuuri gently pulled Phichit’s arms off him as he turned to look at Viktor straight in the eye, “Well, if it’s okay with Viktor.”

“It’s okay.”

“Then that’s set-... Phichit?”

He looked over at the entrance of the hotel and saw Phichit and Minami running out of it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back hahahahaa.  
> If you follow me on tumblr, you probably know that the reason I've been putting this off for so long is because I'm nervous about writing the debate speeches. But I really really wanted to continue this. So I found a compromise - I post a chapter that has no debate content at all. That'll give me more time to work on the speeches in the background. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like this! I haven't written in a while so I apologise in advance if this isn't up to my usual standard. I'll get back into the groove of things soon enough :3

Yuuri groaned as he placed a hand on his behind. He looked across the dining table at Viktor. Viktor flashed him a sympathetic smile, trying his best to conceal his own discomfort. He looked at the cup of piping hot tea that Yuuri had placed in front of him and let out a low whine. 

"Last night... let's maybe never do that again," Yuuri said.

"Concur," Viktor sighed as he rubbed his own butt.

"No, maybe not never. Just make sure to check..."

"... if the street vendor has a license to sell food. No, I completely agree," Viktor quickly added, mentally chiding himself for the oversight, “And here I was planning to do more sightseeing. Well, I guess there’s always the next time the competition is held in Detroit.”

“That’s going to be at least twenty years later.”

“Yuuri, I think you underestimate my patience.”

Yuuri kicked him sharply in the knee. 

Viktor felt the tension in his shoulders and legs ease with each chuckle. It struck him that it had been a long while since he truly felt comfortable in the presence of someone else. As much as he loved his team and his club, he often kept them at arm's length, never letting them too close to him. It was refreshing for him to be able to finally let his guard down. 

“When is your next term break?” Yuuri scowled.

“December, around Christmas time. Why?”

He lifted his hand to Yuuri’s cheek and stroked it.

“You could always…,” Yuuri’s voice trailed off and he started to feel his blood rush to his cheeks, “Y-y-you could always come back here.”

“What’s here in December?” 

“Me.”

“Oh.”

It was then Viktor’s turn to blush. He wasn’t sure if it was because of how forward Yuuri was being or because he was embarrassed that he walked right into it. 

“I… I need to check in at the airport at two.”

“It’s only ten and the airport is ten minutes away. We don’t even need to factor in waiting time because I have my bike. Is there anything you’d like to do before we check out?”

Viktor felt the crimson in his cheeks deepen. He didn’t need to think about what he wanted -- he had already wanted it for quite some time. All he needed to do was find the courage to say it out loud.

 

* * *

 

“I still can’t believe that you chose going to McDonald’s as your final activity in Detroit before flying back to Russia.”

“In my defence, I have always wanted to see if there was a difference. Wait, is that the McAbomination I see on your tray?” Viktor gasped.

“What, this?” Yuuri pointed at the sandwich that he was midway pulling the paper wrapping off of, “It’s called a McGriddle.”

“In this house, we do not name what shall not be named.”

“What? Did you just censor a burger name in McDonald’s?”

“I sure as hell did. Yuuri, how could you even stomach that? It’s all sticky and sweet and… Ugh.”’

“I think I’m reconsidering this friendship,” Yuuri muttered as he took a bite out of the unmentionable sandwich.

“Friendship,” Viktor smirked before leaning over to brush his lips against Yuuri’s, then recoiling, “Oh gross, I can taste the maple flavouring on your lips.”

Yuuri sighed as he shook his head disapprovingly. He looked over at Viktor’s plate of half-eaten Big Breakfast with Hotcakes.

“Why do you hate your arteries?” he teased.

“Oh, am I getting heat from the guy with the McAbomination?”

“You’re a McAbomination.”

“Yuuri, you wound me. I don’t think I can recover from this!”

“Oh, just shut up and eat your hash brown. We have to go soon.”

Viktor glanced at his watch, biting his lip. He knew that he only had about twenty four hours to spend with Yuuri, but he didn’t think it would be ending so soon. He could almost feel the tears forming in his eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey. We’ll talk every day. It’ll be like you never left,” Yuuri said, cupping his face in his hands.

“You say that but-”

“I promise,” he clenched his jaw, “And when your term break comes, you can come back. Or I could go to Russia. Or we could...”

“Yes?”

“We could go to Japan.”

“Okay.”

 

* * *

 

As soon as they stepped into the airport, Yuuri felt his chest tighten. As an international student, he had his fair share of bittersweet goodbyes, but that moment felt different somehow. He couldn’t make sense of his feelings given that he’d only spent a little over a day with Viktor. Still, it was there, and it hurt.

They were holding hands, like school children during an excursion, like they were afraid that if they let a sliver of daylight between their palms, they would lose each other forever. Even when he was about to check in his luggage, Viktor was reluctant to let go. When his hand finally returned to Yuuri’s, it felt like it had always been meant to be there. 

“I’m… I’m going to beat you the next time, you hear me?” Viktor proclaimed.

Yuuri’s eyes widened before softening into a smile. He had almost forgotten that it had only been two days before that they were fierce competitors. He pulled his hand away from Viktor’s, then pulled him into a hug.

“I look forward to it,” he whispered as he nuzzled against Viktor’s shoulder, pulling him in tighter and tighter.

Viktor pretended not to notice when he felt a wet patch on his shoulder grow, unable to be sure if it was from Yuuri’s tears or his own. The world melted away as they were sucked into each other’s embrace. His only hope was that, if he tried hard enough, he could pretend that he he didn’t hear the call to board his flight over the intercom.

“Viktor, let go of me for a bit. I need to check if I got your number right.”

“You did.”

“I need to be-”

“I checked it five times this morning. If it’s still wrong, I’ll look for your social media accounts. Please, just don’t let go for a while more.”

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "He had almost forgotten that it had only been two days before that they were fierce competitors." -- Admittedly, so did I.
> 
> I know that this chapter was kind of sad but I promise that this isn't going to be angst. At least, not as much as Meeting You Halfway was. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out but I promise it wont be as angsty as this one. This chapter is also a little short because the next chapter will be Detroit team shenanigans and I didn't want to give you whip lash with the sudden mood change. 
> 
> I'd love to know what you think my writing. Please leave comments! Also, please leave kudos if you liked it. I live on lattes and validation.
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Unfortunately, I will not be continuing this fic. [Here's my blog post explaining why, if you were interested. ](https://stellar-parallax.tumblr.com/post/177971427790/idk-if-anyone-whos-following-me-now-read-any-of)
> 
> \--
> 
>  
> 
> Some extra details that may or may not be important:  
> \- The format that I'll be using is the 3vs3 parliamentary format.  
> \- The card game that Yuuri, Phichit and Minami are playing is called Story War.  
> \- I don't actually know if DIY Cake Decorating Stores exist in Japan. I just wanted to write a part about them playing with icing :')
> 
> I'd love to know what you think of this AU and my writing. Please leave comments! Also, please leave kudos if you liked it. I live on lattes and validation. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! <3


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